Swedesboro-Woolwich school district introduces $26.1M budget

WOOLWICH TWP. — The Swedesboro-Woowlich school board introduced a $26.1 million budget for the 2013-2014 school year that will keep its personnel and programs static for the next year.

The budget is an increase of $2 million from the 2012-2013 school year.

Swedesboro-Woolwich is a district that has been plagued with extraordinary population growth as the communities that feed its four elementary schools have continued to expand.

There are currently 1,762 students in the district and that number is expected to grow to 1,800 for the 2013-2014 school year.

While its classes are growing, the district has decided to keep its staffing at the current level and evaluate and modify class sizes wherever possible.

“For the long-term we need to take a look at our enrollment and class sizes until we see what our numbers are. If we need to hire an additional teacher, we have the flexibility to do that,” Superintendent Victor Valeski said. “But for now, we are simply going to maintain the status quo with staffing and not add any more positions.”

The 2013-2014 budget includes a tax levy of $13,920,834, which is an increase of $614,172 from 2012-2013.

The tax rate will increase by 9.5 cents in Swedesboro, which equates to an increase of approximately $177 for the owner of a home assessed at the town’s average of $186,491. In Woolwich the tax rate will increase by 6.2 cents, which means an increase of about $110 for the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $178,518.

Last year, Swedesboro-Woolwich received an influx of $963,615 of growth aid from the state to supplement the state aid money it already receives. This money was renewed for 2013-2014, but the district’s administration has been told to treat these funds as one-time funds, according to the superintendent.

“The issue with non-returning money is if we offer someone position there’s no guarantee it will be there next year,” Valeski said.

Those funds will therefore be used for one-time purchases such as curriculum materials.